Few bands represent the 1990’s with the vibrant power of Bikini Kill, the deeply beloved pioneering punk band from Olympia, Washington. The group defined the riot grrrl movement – a DIY era of feminist rock music unlike anything that had come before. In 2019, the band’s original members – frontwoman Kathleen Hanna, bassist Kathi Wilcox, and drummer Tobi Vail – reunited, along with Erica Dawn Lyle taking guitar duties from Billy Karren. Last year, the band toured across North America including a stop at Philly’s Franklin Music Hall.
Today, the band announced another North American tour – including a return to the Franklin Music Hall on September 10th. In 2019, Pitchfork noted the band’s reunion shows “felt less like a reunion and more like a timely continuation, a historical corrective.” On May 14th, Hanna will release a memoir, named after the band’s most iconic track, entitled Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk. Much has changed in the years since the band disbanded, yet the message of female power rings as relevant and necessary as ever in 2024. In her WXPN review of the band’s 2023 show, Megan Matuzak noted the crowd was filled not only with original fans but an “intergenerational and proudly queer crowd” including the “OG fanbase, 20-somethings crowd surfing, and children with sound canceling headphones held up to see by their parent.” Tickets for the upcoming Bikini Kill tour go on sale on February 9th and dates can be found here.